U Cambridge Launches Sustainability Strategy Including Carbon Reduction Goals
(U.K.): The university's new sustainability strategy calls for a 34 percent reduction in carbon emissions from a 2005 baseline to 2020 and is aiming for carbon-neutral status by 2050. After emissions gradually increased from 2005 to 2010, the university set aside a carbon reduction budget of $2 million pounds ($3.05 million) annually.
Edge Hill U Earns Keep Britain Tidy Green Flag Award
(U.K.): The award recognizes the university’s efforts in minimizing the environmental impact of its activities, maintaining natural habitats through its commitment to biodiversity, and developing a sustainable campus for the enjoyment of students, staff and the local community.
Santa Fe CC Building Achieves LEED Platinum
The community college's Trades & Advanced Technology Center building boasts solar thermal and photovoltaic rooftop systems, concentrating solar hot water collectors, rainwater catchment for lavatory use, motion-sensing technology with LED lighting, all wood used is FSC-certified, zero use of refrigerants, and bicycle storage and parking spaces for low-emitting and fuel-efficient vehicles.
Georgia State U Dining Halls Garner 'Green Restaurant' Certification
Two university dining halls were recently certified as a 2 Star Certified Green Restaurant by the Green Restaurant Association by implementing 54 steps in the areas of disposables, energy, food, furnishings and building materials, pollution and chemical reduction, waste and water usage.
U Southern California Adds Composting to Athletic Games
Building on the university’s efforts to reduce the tons of waste produced each football game, the university stadium's trash cans will be transformed into compost bins this football season, as the 90,000-seat facility attempts to achieve “zero waste” status in collaboration with the university's Office of Sustainability.
Purdue University Launches Bike-Share Program
As a means of providing fun, clean and convenient transportation, the university recently announced the official launch of the Purdue Bike Share program, allowing members to use bicycles for varying lengths of time. Costs to use the system are based on the duration of usage.
Adelphi U Partners on Energy Efficiency Implementation
Using a cash-flow neutral strategy that aligns the cost of payments to annual energy savings, the university will implement a new co-generation central heating plant that is projected to carry a $1.6 million per year avoidance in energy expenditures. The university's financing partner is First American Education Finance.
U Maryland Provides Reusable Cups to Students
This year, the university's Dining Services decided to supply students with dining plans (over 8,000) with a reusable cup that can be used at any campus dining hall and convenience shop for unlimited tea, coffee and fountain beverages.
University World News: 'Open Education the Sustainable Way in the Knowledge Age'
The recent article from University World News says most models of higher education are based on the presumption of perpetual growth. The author argues that the only way to widen access to tertiary education sustainably is through an open access model, and that education is key to creating models of growth that do not rely on scarce resources.
AASHE Releases 2015 Higher Education Sustainability Staffing Survey Report
The 2015 Higher Education Sustainability Staffing Survey examines the nature of sustainability positions at colleges and universities in the U.S. and Canada, providing insights into salaries, funding, supervision, job satisfaction, challenges and more. This report aims to increase our understanding of the continuously growing career field of sustainability in higher education.
Virginia Commonwealth U Students Use UCI Cycling Championships to Study Recycling
Students in a class organized by the university’s Office of Sustainability will log, map and analyze tweets sent by the 450,000 spectators anticipated at the upcoming UCI Road World Cycling Championships and will use geographic informations systems to produce maps, study the location of existing recycling resources, and create proposals on how to guide crowds toward resources with signage.
400 Pennsylvania Professors Urge Lawmakers to Tackle Climate Change
In response to ongoing debate surrounding the Environmental Protection Agency’s finalized Clean Power Plan, professors, researchers and lecturers at 29 Pennsylvania universities, as well as Harvard and Georgetown Universities, recently signed a letter emphasizing scientific research on climate change and urging lawmakers to implement a strong state plan that minimizes carbon pollution.
U North Carolina Chapel Hill Dining Receives Sustainability Award
The university was recently named the grand prize winner in the National Association of College & University Food Services' 2015 Sustainability Awards competition, which honors colleges and universities that have demonstrated outstanding leadership in the promotion and implementation of sustainability specifically in dining services.
U Maryland Building Receives LEED and Green Globes Recognition
A new campus building that houses the Department of Building and Landscape Maintenance recently achieved LEED Silver certification and a rating of Three Green Globes from the Green Building Initiative rating system. This is the first University of Maryland building to receive dual recognition from both LEED and Green Globes.
U Alberta Pilots Mattress Recycling
The university collaborated with Re-Matt, a new, mattress recycling company, in an effort to reduce the amount of mattresses that end up in landfills and illegally dumped. Re-Matt is able to recycle up to 95 percent of a mattress into reusable products.
Virginia Tech Rolls Out Reusable To-Go Containers
Upon arrival this semester, students received a reusable to-go container made from sugar cane that can be used in three dining centers. The distribution of reusable containers is an effort to reduce the usage of disposables and the amount of waste generated on campus.
Morehead State U Wins Grant for Recycling Bins
The university's Sustainability Committee received a Kentucky Pride Recycling grant for $10,701 and a $2,300 donation from G&J Pepsi-Cola Bottlers Inc., to purchase 1,250 six-gallon recycling totes for residence hall rooms. The idea for installing bins came from a student during the 2015 RecycleMania competition.
U Alberta Contracts With Green Cleaning Partners
Aligning with the university’s Cleaning for a Healthy U program, the university’s Buildings and Grounds Services recently announced a new primary custodial services business contract, Avmor, Wesclean Equipment & Cleaning Supplies and BeeClean Building Maintenance, to provide environmentally friendly cleaning products and cleaning equipment.
Indiana U Debuts Farmers Market
Aligned with the university's participation in the Real Food Challenge, the campus community can now purchase locally grown produce at a weekly farmers market.
Bristol CC Unveils 3.2MW Solar Parking Canopy
Part of the zero net energy campus plan, the newly completed 3.2-megawatt photovoltaic array covering 800 parking spaces will supply about half of the electricity needs of the entire campus. The project is expected to provide more than $1.75 million in savings to the campus over the next 20 years.
New Study Reveals Energy Efficiency is Key to Meeting Goals
According to a new study commissioned by Schneider Electric and the Alliance to Save Energy, U.S. higher education institutions recognize that energy efficiency is the most cost-effective way to meet their energy needs while at the same time reducing greenhouse gas emissions and cutting costs.
North Carolina State U Stadium Implements Composting
University Athletics and the Waste Reduction and Recycling Office are partnering to add stadium composting bins, which will be used to collect food waste and other organic material from each game during the 2015 football season. Collected material will be combined with other campus food waste and turned into a nutrient-rich soil amendment.
AASHE Releases 2014 Annual Report
The purpose of the recently released report is to provide members, prospective members and others with an overview of the accomplishments of AASHE in 2014. The report provides a snapshot of the following areas: Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System (STARS), Listening Project, Conference & Expo, Sustainability Awards, professional development, and councils and committees.
California State U System Funds Sustainability Curriculum Development
The university's systemwide Campus as a Living Lab (CALL) program provides up to $12,000 to each campus to support the redesign of an existing course that ties in sustainability and campus facilities. This year, 21 teams from 19 universities received grants supporting water conservation, energy and waste reduction, and enhanced partnerships with local utilities.
Sierra Magazine Releases Cool Schools Ranking
Sierra Magazine has published its ninth annual Cool Schools ranking of America's most sustainable four-year undergraduate colleges and universities, based on data submitted through AASHE's STARS reporting system. The rankings are intended to spur productive competition between schools, raise campus eco-standards and publicly reward the institutions. Photo courtesy of Peter Morenus/U Connecticut
16 Universities to Participate in Reusable Cup Contest
Kill the Cup recently announced the participating schools that will engage in a four-week, nationwide campaign that encourages students, staff and faculty across the country to reduce waste from disposable coffee cups. The campaign, which runs from Oct. 5-30, will reward the university that serves the highest percentage of drinks in reusable cups at participating coffee shops.
U Washington Receives NACDA Sustainability Award
Honored for the renovation and sustainable operations of its football stadium, the university was recently received the inaugural Sustainability Award from the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics and USG Corporation. The stadium showcases the natural environment and carries a 75 percent waste diversion rate.
U California Merced Student Proposal Amplifies Student Engagement
Winning the first-ever Chancellor's Advisory Committee's Sustainability Proposal Writing Contest, undergraduate student Andrew John De Los Santos' proposal includes providing information to residence halls during move-in and providing "triple zero" workshops. Triple Zero is the university's pledge to consume zero net energy, produce zero waste and zero net greenhouse gas emissions, all by 2020.
North Carolina State U to Salvage 55-Year Old Building
Opened in 1961 and is slated for deconstruction in 2016, the construction waste management plan for the university's round building indicates 95 percent diversion rate through donation or transfer of usable items and working with a facility that specialized in construction and demolition waste in order to reuse and recycle nonhazardous material.
Michigan State U Students Establish Beehive in Campus Neighborhood
The university's Bee Club is combining pollinator research and student learning by engaging Bailey Hall residents with a honeybee hive atop their green roof. The honeybee hive is providing students with a unique opportunity to manage a fully-functional colony and helping to diminish the fear associated with these critical pollinators.
Indiana U Bloomington Sustainability Office Hosts Students from Istanbul
Following a 2014 program that brought together Turkish and American students from five universities, seven Turkish students spent time with sustainability offices at the Indiana University and University of Chicago to learn about campus gardens and composting, fossil fuel consumption and alternative utility initiatives, and first year experiences that incorporate sustainability.
U California Merced Class Helps Certify LEED Buildings
In partnership with the university's Engineering Service Learning course, students will document and certify the campus’ applications for the LEED operations and maintenance program rating system and provide students with the opportunity to take the LEED credentialing examination.
U North Carolina System Avoids Over $900M in Utility Costs
The fourth annual University of North Carolina Energy Leadership Challenge revealed that the state's universities and colleges have cumulatively avoided over $749 million in energy costs and over $158 million in water costs as of the 2013-14 academic year.
U Dayton to Hold Conference on Fossil Fuel Divestment
The conference will engage Pope Francis’ call to action by convening representatives from Catholic institutions to discuss theological and ethical underpinnings of divest and invest initiatives, financial mechanics of fossil fuel divestment and opportunities for renewable energy investment, lesson learned from the divestment movement, and ecumenical coalitions for responses to climate change.
U Toledo to Offer Disability Studies Major
The university's new undergraduate major in disability studies will be based on a 21-credit set of required courses that include an introduction to the field, courses on disability culture and a course on the history of disability in the U.S. The program at Toledo will join minors at Ohio State University, Pennsylvania State University and the University of California at Berkeley.
Ireland Engages in National Review of Gender Equity in Higher Ed
(Ireland): Amid concerns over the lack of women in leadership roles in tertiary institutions, the country's Higher Education Authority appointed a review panel to investigate gender discrimination. Higher Education Authority figures revealed 19 percent of university professors are women as of December 2014.
Colorado State U & 13 Others Contribute to Water Research Network
The university will join 13 other academic institutions from the U.S. that will establish the Urban Water Innovation Network (UWIN). With $12 million in funding from the National Science Foundation, these institutions, led by Colorado State University, will create technological, institutional and management solutions to help increase the resilience of water systems and enhance crisis preparedness.
Second Nature Names Climate Leadership Finalists
The sixth annual Climate Leadership Awards resulted in 19 finalists out of nearly 50 applications, seven of which are from two-year institutions and 12 are from four-year schools. The awards are a national competition among higher education institutions that are signatories of the American College & University Presidents' Climate Commitment.
Shippensburg U to Complete New Cooling System
As part of a $30.2 million project to replace the university's outdated heating and cooling systems and reduce its impact on the environment, four new chillers are replacing 24 separate building units to provide more efficient cooling. The new system is anticipated to reduce the overall footprint by eight percent.
Elmhurst College Expands Campus Garden
Tended by students, faculty, staff and volunteers, the college's Heritage Garden quadrupled in size this year and produces organic food for campus and local food banks. The garden has also become a research laboratory and service learning experience for local community members from a boys and girls home.
U Dayton Builds New Student Green Housing
Over the next two years, $17 million will build and upgrade student housing that will be certified under the National Association of Home Builders Green Building program, including building features such as additional insulation, energy-efficient furnaces and appliances, tankless water heaters and airtight windows.
